In December, the Brandeis Center announced it was suing the University of California for the “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism” on UC Berkeley’s campus. Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus was all over cable news, framing not only LDB’s lawsuit, but also the egregious double standards on display when university presidents from Harvard, Penn, and MIT testified before Congress about campus anti-Semitism. And LDB launched two membership organizations to assist students and faculty experiencing campus anti-Semitism – which you can join if you have not already done so. Members of Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (JAFE) – one of the new membership organizations – are active in in our Berkeley case. Members of Southern Californians for Unbiased Education (So-CUE) support our lawsuit against the Santa Ana School District. The Brandeis Center and its national membership organization, Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (JAFE), sued the University of California’s regents, president, chancellor, and other officials for the “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism” on Berkeley’s campus – that has fomented a hotbed of anti-Jewish hostility and harassment. LDB’s lawsuit argues that UC Berkeley’s failure to address discrimination against Jews in its law school has cultivated the spread of anti-Semitism throughout its campus, and that this hostile campus climate worsened after Hamas’ October 7 massacre, leading to further harassment and even violence targeting Jewish students. ”The situation at Berkeley has deteriorated to the point that something really needs to be done beyond just raising awareness,” Brandeis Center Chairman – and Berkeley Law school alum – Kenneth L. Marcus told Jewish Insider. “What we’re seeing at Berkeley is both representative and also extreme,” Marcus told CNN. “It is a symptom of a much larger problem that we’re seeing all around the country – at so many universities that it’s hard to keep track. On the other hand, what’s happening at Berkeley really is truly extraordinarily bad and needs to be addressed. Fox News, Newsmax, and NTD News also interviewed Marcus about the case. Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin told Newsmax: “You have 23 student organizations that have adopted bylaws where they have said Zionists are not welcome to speak to their clubs on any topic. We’re seeking an injunction from the court that they should prohibit that.” Kenneth L. Marcus gives Insights about Embarrassing and “Deficient” Testimony on Campus anti-Semitism by University PresidentsBrandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus gave a series of interviews before and after members of Congress questioned the presidents of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT – all of whom refused to say that calling for genocide of Jews violates their schools’ codes of conduct. “The very fact that the hearing is going to take place is as important as anything that actually happens,” Marcus told Politico in an article previewing the hearing. “Their handling of anti-Semitism on their campuses has been extraordinarily deficient,” Marcus told The Algemeiner in its preview coverage. “They should be embarrassed.” Marcus told Insider Higher Ed: “The inability of the university leaders to speak with moral clarity about calls for genocide is shocking to a lot of people. The double standards that were discussed regarding anti-Semitism versus other forms of discrimination also has people talking.” “This has been an ugly time on college campuses,” Marcus affirmed on Newsnation. “[The Brandeis Center is] hearing every day from students who are afraid to go to class, to cross campus, who think that as Jews they no longer have anywhere near the security they always expected to have on our own American college campuses. LDB Launches Membership Organizations to bring Cases on Behalf of Students, Faculty, and Others Impacted by Campus and K-12 Anti-Semitism The Brandeis Center launched two membership organizations to assist students, faculty, and others who have experienced or witnessed campus anti-Semitism–Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (JAFE) and Southern Californians for Unbiased Education (So-CUE). Both groups play a role in the Brandeis Center’s suits. JAFE is a plaintiff in Brandeis Center’s lawsuit against the University of California, and So-CUE is a plaintiff in a suit against a school district in Santa Ana, California. Everyone who shares our mission to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and to promote justice for all can join our efforts by becoming a Brandeis Center JAFE or So-CUE member and signing up here. More information is available here. The Brandeis Center and its membership groups will continue to serve as plaintiffs in lawsuits and other lawful efforts to protect Jews from harassment and discrimination that targets them not only on the basis of religious practice, but also on the basis of their shared ancestry and ethnic identity connected to Israel. “We are pleased to announce the launch of our membership organizations,” stated Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “Many people have asked us what they can do to help us to achieve our mission. Joining the Brandeis Center and JAFE [or So-CUE] is free, but it sends a message, and it provides an opportunity for people to make themselves heard.” Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin added: “The Brandeis Center has launched these powerful vehicles to facilitate our representation of Jewish and Israeli American… students…parents, alumni, faculty, and other individuals who have personally experienced or been impacted by anti-Semitism in K-12 and higher education. [They] will enable us to better inform, coordinate and represent students, parents, faculty and staff who are impacted by this anti-Semitism.” Brandeis Center and Partners ‘Shine A Light’ on Anti-Semitism with Webinar The Brandeis Center is proud to again join an unprecedented coalition of more than 100 North American Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, 110 corporations, and dozens of U.S. state governors in the Shine A Light campaign. This year, Brandeis Center Director of Corporate Initiatives Rory Lancman led LDB’s Shine A Light efforts based on LDB’s successful approach to combatting anti-Semitism in higher education to ensure legal protections are extended to Jewish employees in the corporate arena. Lancman developed an LDB webinar, “Key Anti-Semitism Issues in the Post 10/7 Workplace,” which took place December 21. Hosted by President Alyza D. Lewin, the webinar explored the specific anti-Semitism issues arising in the workplace since the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel and ensuing surge in anti-Semitism in America and across the world. Panelists discussed the importance of ensuring that both employers and their Jewish employees understand the relevant antidiscrimination laws that protect Jewish employees, and how employers can effectively combat anti-Semitism in the workplace. Employers can demonstrate their support and stand up for their Jewish employees by joining this year’s Shine A Light campaign. Alyza D. Lewin Joins Pepperdine Webinar on Campus Anti-Semitism and Free Speech Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin joined a Pepperdine School of Public Policy webinar, “Campus Antisemitism/Campus Speech: A Conversation.” Discussion focused on how to better understand and recognize campus anti-Semitism, including its relationship with anti-Zionism, as well as how institutions of higher education should approach speech around Israel. “On October 6, we at the Brandeis Center were already being stretched thin, providing support and guidance to students experiencing anti-Semitism, and before October 7, there already was a crisis across campuses. What happened post-October 7 did not begin on October 7. The reason anti-Semitism has spread like wildfire across our campuses is because…for years now, the communities on campus have been fed a constant diet of anti-Semitic propaganda,” noted Alyza Lewin. EEOC Commission Joins Brandeis Center for its Third Capitol Hill Policy Briefing Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner, Hon. Andrea R. Lucas joined the Brandeis Center as a featured panelist for our third Capitol Hill policy briefing, “It’s Not Just Colleges: Corporate DEI and Anti-Semitism.” Following introductory remarks by Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus, Commissioner Lucas, Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin and Director of Corporate Initiatives Rory Lancman spoke about anti-Semitism in DEI programs in corporate America, Jewish identity, and employers’ legal obligations to protect employees from anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination. The panel outlined best practices to support Jewish employees and then took questions from the audience. “Colleges aren’t the only places where DEI programs are failing to protect Jews from discrimination, as corporate DEI programs also too often ignore, or worse, propagate, anti-Semitism in the workplace,” stated Lancman. The policy briefing, organized by Brandeis Center Director of Policy Emma Enig, was part of LDB’s efforts to support the Shine A Light coalition’s efforts to encourage companies, organizations, institutions, and individuals to raise awareness about modern forms of anti-Semitism. Play videoTextBlockModalTitle × Your browser does not support the video tag. Alyza D. Lewin Presents at JNF Global Conference for Israel Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin presented numerous times at the Jewish National Fund’s Global Conference for Israel, held in Colorado in early December.Lewin provided an uplifting start to the college portion of the conference, informing students at the College Summit Opening of the resources available to them and their rights as Jewish and Zionist students. Lewin also served as moderator and speaker for a panel titled “Countering Anti-Zionism Campaigns on Campus.” And Lewin presented remarks on how to use the law to counter anti-Semitism before joining representatives from Hillel, AEPi and Students Supporting Israel, for a discussion titled, “Dispatches from the Front Lines: A Conversation with Jewish Campus Professionals.”On the last day of the conference, when asked about the protestors who had demonstrated repeatedly outside throughout the conference in an effort to intimidate the conference attendees and shut down a Denver boulevard adjacent to the conference, Lewin told CBS News: “[the protestors] are looking to erase and eradicate the one and only Jewish homeland’s right to self-determination in any borders.” “Remember that colleges are also workplaces” In his timely op-ed for The Hill, Brandeis Center Director of Corporate Initiatives Hon. Rory Lancman urges civil rights enforcement agencies to protect faculty and staff facing hostile work environments and discrimination on college campuses. “The agency charged with enforcing federal antidiscrimination laws in defense of college employees, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and similar human rights commissions in the states and localities, must rise to the occasion to protect Jewish staff and faculty on college campuses, and indeed all Jewish workers in every employment setting,” wrote Lancman. “The EEOC needs to embrace all the tools available to it — including IHRA and the EEOC’s existing understanding of the federal antidiscrimination law it is charged with enforcing — and protect Jewish employees, on college campuses and elsewhere, from the wave of anti-Semitism that is making their professional lives unbearable.” Alyza D. Lewin Warns University Administrators Not to Misinterpret New Survey Data In an Inside Higher Ed article about Brandeis University survey results showing a range in campus anti-Semitism perceptions across campuses, LDB President Alyza D. Lewin cautioned against variations in survey results leading some college administrators to think the problem doesn’t exist on their campuses:“It would behoove all university administrators to realize that anti-Semitism is spreading like wildfire across campuses in the U.S.,” said Lewin. Brandeis Center Blog Brandeis Center Intern Bryn Schneider authored a blog on Yale’s Buckley Institute podcast interview with Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus.Regarding the weeks following the October 7 Hamas Massacre, Chairman Marcus stated: “Certainly, the volume of intake [for legal help requests to the Brandeis Center on campus anti-Semitism] increased by much more than tenfold from [already] record levels…So this situation now is not just historic, record-setting, and unprecedented within certainly our lifetimes, but it is exponentially higher than the record level that we had reached in the period leading up to October 7.”Schneider just wrapped her third LDB internship, having previously served in fall 2022 and summer 2023. The Brandeis Center wishes Bryn best of luck going forward!